Thirteen year-old chess player Samuel Sevian plays against his father Armen Sevian in Alexandria, Virginia, on October 9, 2014 (AFP Photo)

WASHINGTON (Agence France Presse)—Samuel Sevian may only be 13, but the American chess prodigy is in a hurry.

He wants to become the youngest Grandmaster in the history of the United States.

That honor currently goes to Ray Robson, who was crowned two weeks before his 15th birthday.

Samuel will be 15 in December next year and is just 14 points from becoming Grandmaster.

“I want to have this title,” he tells AFP on the eve of a tournament in Arlington, a suburb of Washington.

And the longer he can hold the title the better.

But once he has that in the bag, he will chase his next dream: to be world champion.

If he sounds confident, he has good reason. In 2006, in his first tournament, he became the youngest US Expert.

Then at nine years, 11 months and 23 days he broke another record when he was crowned youngest American Master. And at 12 years and 10 months, the youngest US International Master.

The secret to his success? Practice. A lot of it.
He spends his mornings being schooled at home — he said no school would accept his tournament-dominated schedule — and then plays chess for up to six hours every afternoon.

Spending a single day without playing is unthinkable. And the thought of losing a match?

“Losing is worse than dying,” says the taciturn boy wonder, who moved his first chess piece at age five with his father Armen and was once a world champion in his age group.

“I fell in love with the game,” he adds.

Now when father and son play chess together the pieces are arranged to Armen’s advantage, otherwise Samuel wins too easily.

Playing blindfolded
Armen Sevian, a scientist who was born and raised in Armenia and later moved to the United States, is understandably proud — but also worried.

A chess Master himself in his youth — before he decided to take up “other interests” — he is eager for his son not to become “a chess freak.”

“I’ve tried to steer him away to something else, pretty much anything else,” he says, explaining: “If you want to be at a high level, you can’t do anything else. It’s hours of work and dedication.”

But it is dedication that Samuel appears to relish, and his father admits that his son showed remarkable talent at a young age.

“At age eight, he played five games blindfolded at the same time,” he says.

THE BOY KING OF CHESS: PRODIGY FROM BOSTON BECOMES AMERICA'S YOUNGEST EVER GRANDMASTER AGED 13 YEARS AND 10 MONTHS

Daily Mail, UK
Nov 28 2014

Samuel Sevian pushed his World Chess Federation rating past 2,500
points Previous record for the youngest US Grandmaster was held
by Ray Robson He took the title just before he turned 15 - over a
year older than Samuel Samuel said that he was 'overwhelmed' when he
achieved the elite status Now his family want to go to Europe more -
to find stronger competition

By Annabel Grossman for MailOnline

Not many people can claim to have shattered a major American record
aged just 13 years, 10 months and 27 days.

But chess prodigy Samuel Sevian can now do just that. The teenager
has been crowned America's youngest-ever Grandmaster, easily besting
the country's previous record holder by more than a year.

At a tournament in St Louis last weekend, he won all four of his
games to push his World Chess Federation rating past 2,500 points -
enough to secure Grandmaster status.

'I feel really good and somewhat relieved. This was one of my best
tournament performances,' the teen told AFP, noting that he had beaten
three Grandmasters during the event in only 20-25 moves.

His father Armen - a scientist born and raised in Armenia who later
emigrated to the United States - is bursting with pride

'He really outplayed his opponents in three games. But the fourth,
it was really back and forth, it wasn't clear,' he said.

'It was like a blitz, it came down to the last seconds. Both players
were shaking.'

The previous record for the youngest US Grandmaster was held by Ray
Robson, who achieved the title two weeks before he turned 15. American
legend Bobby Fischer also once held the record.

At an August tournament, Samuel had put the record within reach,
getting to within 14 points of the 2,500 needed for the elite
Grandmaster title.

At age nine, Samuel became the youngest-ever American chess master
receiving a rating of 2,201

The young chess wizard is well accustomed to setting US records,
having become the youngest American Expert (another ranking) shortly
before his 10th birthday.

At 12 years and 10 months, he became the country's youngest
International Master.

Samuel's next target is to get to 2,600 points, which would secure
him invitations to the most prestigious tournaments.

His ultimate dream is to become world champion; the question is when
he will be ready to tackle the challenge.

'It's way out in the future and I don't want to busy my head with it
now. First, I would need to improve my game,' he said.

Thirteen year-old chess player Samuel Sevian plays against his father
Armen Sevian in Alexandria, Virginia, in this October 9, 2014 file
picture. -- Reuters picWASHINGTON, Nov 28 -- Not many people can claim
to have shattered a major American record at 13 years, 10 months and
27 days.

But chess prodigy Samuel Sevian can now do just that, after being
crowned America's youngest-ever Grandmaster, easily besting the
country's previous record holder by more than a year.

At a tournament in St Louis last weekend, he won all four of his
games to push his World Chess Federation rating past 2,500 points --
enough to secure Grandmaster status.

"I feel really good and somewhat relieved. This was one of my best
tournament performances," the teen told AFP, noting that he had beaten
three Grandmasters during the event in only 20-25 moves.

His father Armen -- a scientist born and raised in Armenia who later
emigrated to the United States -- is bursting with pride.

"He really outplayed his opponents in three games. But the fourth,
it was really back and forth, it wasn't clear," he said.

"It was like a blitz, it came down to the last seconds. Both players
were shaking."

The previous record for the youngest US Grandmaster was held by Ray
Robson, who achieved the title two weeks before he turned 15. American
legend Bobby Fischer also once held the record.

At an August tournament, the bespectacled Samuel had put the record
within reach, getting to within 14 points of the 2,500 needed for
the elite Grandmaster title.

The young chess wizard is well accustomed to setting US records,
having become the youngest American Expert (another ranking) shortly
before his 10th birthday.

At 12 years and 10 months, he became the country's youngest
International Master.

Samuel's next target is to get to 2,600 points, which would secure
him invitations to the most prestigious tournaments.

His ultimate dream is to become world champion; the question is when
he will be ready to tackle the challenge.

"It's way out in the future and I don't want to busy my head with it
now. First, I would need to improve my game," he said.

Bobby Fisher non-withstanding, chess has never been a huge sporting
phenomenon in the Unites States. In the small Republic of Armenia, it
is a religion. This country of less than 3 million has given the world
two World Chess champions: Tigran Petrossian and Gary Kasparov, though
Kasparov is half Jewish and was born in Azerbaijan. Armenians have
been moving around the world, forming a global diaspora of talented
business people, artists and scientists ever since the fall of the
medieval city of Ani in 1045. Now it seems that chess players are its
latest exports. Some time in the near future, Armenians may once again
make it to a world chess championship final and find themselves facing
the United States -- which also has a fine tradition in the sport --
and one of their very own, in the person of a slightly older and
perhaps unbeatable Samuel Sevian.

Sevian, now all of 14 years old, is Armenian-American and the son of
an Armenian immigrant to the United States, Armen Sevian. He started
playing chess when he was only five and completed all GM qualification
standards by the age of 13. Throughout the course of his chess career
he's bested several previous all-time American records. Sevian became
the youngest expert in USCF history at age eight, youngest National
Master at nine and the youngest ever participant at a U.S. Chess
Championship when he was only 12. Samuel also won the World Youth
Under-12 Championships in Slovenia. Last November Sevian crossed the
2500 FIDE rating mark, which is the norm for becoming a grandmaster.

In doing so Samuel became the youngest GM in American history --
besting the previous age record by almost a year. That was held by
GM Ray Robson who earned that honor in 2009, a couple of weeks before
his 15th birthday. That means Sevian is the sixth-youngest Grandmaster
in the world.

In 2014, after subsequently completing all three GM norms at
the Foxwoods Open, Saint Louis GM Invitational and Washington
International, Sevian became the youngest American ever to have all
the GM norm requirements fulfilled at age 13. "If he gets the points
he needs before his birthday on December 26, Sevian will become just
the seventh player in the world to become a grandmaster before turning
14," the New York Times reported earlier this year.

Sevian was born in Corning, New York and currently lives in South
Bridge, Massachusetts. His father Armen Sevian, a laser physicist
who came to the U.S. from Armenia for his Ph.D. studies in 1996,
taught his son his first chess moves and coached him throughout the
years. An avid chess player himself, Armen credits his first Chess
teacher -- another chess master Henrich Kasparyan -- for instilling
a love for the game in him at a young age as well.

Armenia is a small land-locked country located North of Iran in the
Caucasus, approximately the size of the state of Maryland. Despite
its small size, Armenia has won three out of the five world chess
Olympiads since 2006 -- as well as the 2011 world championship.

Historians say that chess was brought to Armenia from India around the
9th century. In fact as late as the mid-20th century, certain Armenian
rural settlements still played the original version of chess known as
chatrak , a historical tradition that has apparently lasted over 11
centuries. According to California-based Armenian-American GM and U.S.

national female team coach Melikset Khachiyan: "Armenians are generally
good at intellectual games." Khachiyan also pointed out that "Tigran
Petrossian's victory back in the 1960s during Soviet times was a huge
psychological boom for our nation." In 2011, Armenia made chess part
of the regular school curriculum, a move that has since been emulated
by countries such as Hungary and the Ukraine.

Sevian is currently ranked 1st in the Under-14 in both the United
States and in world and ranks 35th among all U.S. active chess
players. In a brief phone conversation, the young Samuel stated that
although he was happy with his accomplishment, he had even bigger
plans for the future. America's youngest GM is already preparing for a
major international tournament scheduled for January in Wijk aan Zee,
Netherlands. Among Samuel's immediate goals is raising his game to
a new level, maybe hitting 2600 rating mark in the coming year. It
seems that for Sevian, the sky's the limit.

The boy king of chess: Prodigy from Boston becomes America’s youngest ever Grandmaster aged 13 years and 10 months
By
Staff
– Posted on December 6, 2014Posted in: Armenia, News, World

Not many people can claim to have shattered a major American record aged just 13 years, 10 months and 27 days.

But chess prodigy Samuel Sevian can now do just that. The teenager has been crowned America’s youngest-ever Grandmaster, easily besting the country’s previous record holder by more than a year.

At a tournament in St Louis last weekend, he won all four of his games to push his World Chess Federation rating past 2,500 points – enough to secure Grandmaster status.
Chess prodigy Samuel Sevian pushed his World Chess Federation rating past 2,500 points at a tournament in St Louis to achieve the elite status of Grandmaster, aged just 13 years and 10 months

Chess prodigy Samuel Sevian pushed his World Chess Federation rating past 2,500 points at a tournament in St Louis to achieve the elite status of Grandmaster, aged just 13 years and 10 months

‘I feel really good and somewhat relieved. This was one of my best tournament performances,’ the teen told AFP, noting that he had beaten three Grandmasters during the event in only 20-25 moves.

His father Armen – a scientist born and raised in Armenia who later emigrated to the United States – is bursting with pride.

‘He really outplayed his opponents in three games. But the fourth, it was really back and forth, it wasn’t clear,’ he said.

‘It was like a blitz, it came down to the last seconds. Both players were shaking.’

The previous record for the youngest US Grandmaster was held by Ray Robson, who achieved the title two weeks before he turned 15. American legend Bobby Fischer also once held the record.

At an August tournament, Samuel had put the record within reach, getting to within 14 points of the 2,500 needed for the elite Grandmaster title.

At age nine, Samuel became the youngest-ever American chess master receiving a rating of 2,201

The young chess wizard is well accustomed to setting US records, having become the youngest American Expert (another ranking) shortly before his 10th birthday.

At 12 years and 10 months, he became the country’s youngest International Master.

Samuel’s next target is to get to 2,600 points, which would secure him invitations to the most prestigious tournaments.

His ultimate dream is to become world champion; the question is when he will be ready to tackle the challenge.

‘It’s way out in the future and I don’t want to busy my head with it now. First, I would need to improve my game,’ he said.

The chess star’s father said he is the sixth-youngest Grandmaster in the world.

The youngest person to win the status is Russia’s Sergey Karjakin, who became a Grandmaster when he was just 12 years and seven months old.

Samuel, who lives in the Boston area, said he was overcome with emotion when he realized he was about to achieve elite status in the chess world.

‘The pressure was enormous when I played my fourth game, which I needed to win to go over the 2,500 mark,’ he said.

‘I’m suddenly a Grandmaster and felt overwhelmed.’

In the coming weeks, Samuel will spend three days in New York at the Garry Kasparov Foundation. The chess legend is one of Samuel’s regular trainers and will be present for the three-day visit.

The foundation hailed his achievement, saying he is ‘the world’s first Grandmaster born in this millennium.’

After celebrating his 14th birthday on December 26, Samuel will participate in another tournament in the Netherlands.
Samuel's target is to get to 2,600 points, which would secure him invites to the most prestigious tournaments

Samuel’s target is to get to 2,600 points, which would secure him invites to the most prestigious tournaments

‘We want to go more to Europe. There’s stronger competition over there,’ said Armen Sevian, himself a former high-level player.

Samuel started his chess career in Orlando in August 2006 and he learned to play the game aged five earning a modest rating of 315 from his first tournament.

By the time his family moved to California in 2007, when he was seven years old, his rating had risen to 1614, higher than most adults.

He earned a spot on both the 2009 and 2010 All-America Chess Teams and in 2009, at the age of eight, Sevian defeated his first National Master in tournament play.

In January 2010 with a FIDE rating of 2119, he became the highest rated chess player in the world for his age and also qualified for the 2010 World Youth Chess Championship.

Former world champion Gary Kasparov achieved the highest ever chess rating at 2851. Bobby Fischer is the highest rated US player in history at 2785.